Tales of THA: There's a Snake in My Bed
by Zylly
Summary: Sato's wife has been dead for ten years. He thought he was ready to move on, but he hasn't been moving forward. When his late wife's friend, Habuko Mongoose calls him up after a bad day, what happens may change his friendship and life forever.


Author's Note: Unlike the last two Tales of Their Hero Academia installments, this one actually takes place more or less in the "present"! If you haven't, I recommend reading the 16th chapter of THA (Chapter 15: Kenta Sato and the Pain of Memories and Moving On ) for important context.

In general, Rikido was an early riser. His jobs as a Pro Hero (even one who did not patrol much anymore) and Head Chef for U.A.'s cafeteria, along with his exercise regimen, necessitated it. However, Saturdays, and Saturdays only, he allowed himself to sleep in. Considering the headache he was still nursing, he considered it especially worth it this morning.

Slowly, he swung his feet out from under the covers and brought them down to the carpeted floor. The clock on his bedside table, sitting next to a picture of himself, Chizu, and Kenta, declared 0900 in bright red numerals. From her birthday, where all she'd wanted was a picture of the three of them. A professional job, it was a good picture.

He rubbed his temples, smiling a rueful smile. He'd done a lot of drinking last night, more than he had in a long time, and was feeling the effects of it now. He was just grateful he could control whether or not the sugars he consumed fueled his Quirk, or drinking could have been a lot worse.

Just why _had_ he been drinking so much last night? His memories were hazy, but it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

He regarded the warm figure filling the other half of his bed with a smile. "Guess we really went tied one on, didn't we, Chizu?" he asked.

No, wait. That wasn't… that wasn't right. Chizu was dead. She'd been dead for ten years now, killed in the line of duty. How could he have forgotten that? In spite of Mina's efforts to set him up with her friends (Or possibly random people she'd pulled off the street, one really didn't know with Mina), in spite of the dates he'd gone on and sort of enjoyed, his bed had been empty all that time.

What had he done? Who had he been with? He was down to only his boxer shorts. What had happened?

He looked more closely now, now seeing a shock of red hair and a long, pointed, scale-covered face.

_Habuko_.

The events of the previous night came back to him in a rush.

_Last Night_

It was about 2100 were he returned to his apartment. He'd stayed late with the rest of the cafeteria staff, helping to close down and clean the equipment that wouldn't be needed for the lighter services offered during the weekend. As the boss, he probably could have exempted himself from such work, but that wasn't his style. Besides, with Kenta attending U.A. and living in the dorms, his apartment felt far too big and far too empty. Better to spend his time in the company of coworkers and friends than to return to the empty rooms and hallways.

If anything, they'd gotten finished far too soon for his liking. It wasn't a good day for being alone. He had a lot of days like that, days that reminded him too much that his wife was dead. There was the day she died, their anniversary, her birthday, and today, the anniversary of the first time he'd met her. Who'd have ever thought delivering some baked goods to a friend's party would have led to him meeting the love of his life? He was still reasonably convinced Tsuyu and Habuko had conspired to get the two of them to meet.

He'd been a lucky man to have known such a woman, brave and funny, the light of his life. Luckier still to have shared a life with her, however brief that had been. But without her, it left a lot of long, dark hours to fill.

He probably shouldn't have been alone, he realized. There were plenty of people he could have called. There was Koji or Hanta or Eijiro. Any of his friends would have picked up in an instant. Even Bakugo had said, years ago, that if he ever needed anything, to call. Hell, he'd even have called Mina.

He could have called his son. But Kenta was busy studying for some tests, he knew. Better to let his boy focus on his education instead of worrying about his old man.

Maybe he could call…

He set his bag down and his cellphone began to ring. The screen lit up with the picture of a snake-headed woman, one arm around a tall and buff orange-haired woman. At the top there was a familiar number and a name. Habuko Mongoose. One of Chizu's best friends from her school days, a dear family friend, his son's godmother.

He hit _aswer_ without a thought. "Hey, Habuko? What's up?"

"_Rikido?" _came the shrill voice on the other end. Her voice was strained and wet, as though she'd been crying. _"I… I… It's…"_

"Where are you?" he asked immediately. "Wherever it is, I can be there."

She named a location that wasn't far. A bar that catered specifically to Pro Heroes, he'd gone there with some of the U.A. teachers on occasion. "I'm on my way," he said.

Habuko had had a rough year, he knew. She'd discovered her husband had been cheating on her, had been cheating on her for _years_. There'd been a messy and very public divorce, during which time the media had had a field day. Her Pro Hero career had a taken a massive hit and she'd been let go from her previous agency during the media kerfuffle. Rebuilding her career had been a slow, laborious process that was still ongoing. She'd spent many a night after she'd found out about the cheating crying on his shoulder and he'd supported her through all of it.

Whatever she needed, he'd be there.

He made it to the bar in record time. Once there, he pushed his way through the crowd until he found Habuko at a table in the back. There was already an empty glass in front of her and she was working on a second, more than halfway through. She didn't look up when he slid into the chair across from her, so he cleared his throat noisily. "Habuko."

She finally looked up. "Oh…! Rikido! I… didn't mean to… I shouldn't have…"

"Don't worry," he said. "Sounded like you needed me. It sounded like you'd be crying. What happened?"

"_Itsuki_." She spat the name like a curse, her forked tongue flickering out of her mouth. Her ex-husband.

Rikdo let out a sympathetic groan. He felt guilty that he'd ever liked the man. He'd had him as a guest in his home. They'd even gone _fishing_ together, for crying out loud. All smiles and friendship, and all that time, Itsuki'd been cheating on Habuko with women from his office. The closest thing to any kind of consolation in it was that Itsuki hadn't been a fellow Pro Hero, instead working in advertising. It did occasionally bring him into contact with Heroes, but at least he'd never cheated on her with anyone in the Hero community.

He'd wished he'd listened to Chizu. She'd had a bad feeling about Itsuki ever since Habuko had introduced him to them. Never able to prove anything, she'd just always had a bad feeling about him. His inability to see anything wrong with the man had been the cause of one of the few fights they'd ever had.

"What'd he do?" he asked. A waitress came by and he ordered a drink. Habuko had finished hers and ordered another as well. He wondered if he should be stopping her. She wasn't as hefty a drinker as he was, and Chizu had been capable of out drinking _him_. In fact, the only people who'd ever been able to outdrink his late wife had been Shoji and Pony.

"He called me today," she said, her words slurring slightly. "I don't know why I answered. I thought it might have something to do with Kayda."

Kayda was their daughter and a good friend of Kenta's, though a year older. And like Kenta, a Hero student, albeit as Habuko's old _alma mater_, Isamu Academy, rather than U.A. She was a smart girl who's Quirk, Lamia, gave her a snake-like lower body. The divorce and fallout from it had been hard on her, he knew.

"I'm guessing it didn't?" he asked.

Habuko shook her head, taking a long drink. "He wanted to get back together. He said he'd realized he'd made a mistake and wanted me to forgive him. I'm pretty sure he was drunk."

Rikido slapped a palm against his face. "He didn't! Tell me he didn't actually say that after everything he put you through."

She laughed at that, but there was no amusement in it. It was a cold, rueful laugh. "I told him to go to hell."

That brought a small smile to his face. "Good for you," he said. "You deserve better than someone like him."

Her tongue flicked out again as she let out a long breath. "He didn't like my answer. He started yelling, screaming about how I'd never find someone else, about how a _freak-faced_ woman like me would never find anyone else to love her."

He clenched a fist, stopping only when he remembered he had a glass in his hand. He carefully set it down. "Habuko, you can't listen to a drunk loser like…"

"I know what I'm like, Rikido," she said, flatly.

"You're a good friend and amazing person and…"

She cut him off. "I know what I'm like. I'm strange and awkward. I didn't have a real friend until I was thirteen. And I know what I _look_ like."

It wasn't a completely unfair statement. There was still a fair degree of discrimination against those with Mutant-Type Quirks or inherited mutations and especially against those with animal-like appearances. People with animal appearances often tended to marry or date those with similar animal appearances. Habuko had thought she'd escaped that with Itsuki, whose appearance was more baseline. Chizu had always said it was probably why Habuko'd rushed into things so quickly.

She took another drink. "I don't know… It just hit me harder than I thought it would. It was a crappy day, a pair of Villains got away today on my watch after robbing a bank, Kayda's mad at me because I was working crappy shifts and had to cancel plans and… and… and between that and dealing with my asshole ex, it all just hit me what a _mess_ my life's turned into. I just felt like I was staring down the barrel of being alone forever…

"So I came here and I had a drink and that turned into a two and then I called you… Sorry, I should have called Tsu, but she's at sea and…"

He reached over and took her hand. "You're my friend, Habuko. I'm always here if you need me."

"You're a good guy, Rikido," Habuko said, giving his hand a squeeze. "It's easy to see why she loved you."

A rueful smile crossed his face. "You know, it's funny. I was just about to call _you_ when you called me."

She blinked slowly, as though surprised anyone would be thinking about her. "Me? Why?"

"Just… really missing Chizu today," he said. "It's the anniversary of the day we first met. And since you and Tsu were the ones who set us up in the first place…"

She gave his hand another squeeze. "That is today, isn't it? Oh… I shouldn't have… I just dumped all my problems on you and you were already…"

Rikido shook his head. "It's fine. Like I said, I was going to call you. I needed to get out of the house anyway. It was going to be too long an evening alone."

"I can't… I can't believe I forgot about that…"

"It's fine," he said. "You've had a lot on your mind."

Habuko pulled herself up, sitting a little taller. "Well, right now, you're here, and you're what's on my mind."

She flagged down a waitress. "Drink to Chizu?"

Some part of him wondered if he should, but her last drink had been a while ago, and what harm could it do…

_Morning_

His memories were fuzzier after that. Drinks and reminiscing had turned into more drinks and painful memories and then more drinks… and a cab back to his apartment and… He was pretty sure they'd gotten their hands on each other at some point. He had a distinct memory of a long, forked tongue inside his mouth.

And there was no denying that he'd woken up with Habuko in his bed. Had they…? He honestly couldn't be sure.

He'd left Habuko sleeping, finding a reasonably clean shirt and pants on the floor, and found his way into the kitchen. There, he gripped the marble countertop of the island with both hands to steady himself. Had he been with another woman, in the same bed he'd once slept in with his wife? Had he… Was she so easily cast aside in one drunken moment? On that day of all days?

"Chizu, I'm sorry."

He needed to distract himself. Water and headache medication first. Then breakfast, yes, that was it, he could start breakfast. Just complicated enough to require his attention, not so complicated he couldn't lose himself in it. Because he really didn't need to be alone with his thoughts right now.

There hadn't been _anyone_ since Chizu. And yes, he'd finally agreed with Mina that _maybe_ he needed to start living life again. He'd even gone on a few dates she'd set up, but he hadn't truly felt anything for anyone. He'd had his son's blessing to move on. He'd thought he'd wanted it too.

So why couldn't he?

Not that this was anything like moving on. This had been a drunken _something_ with someone he thought of as a friend. This had been a mistake.

Preparing breakfast, at least, served to distract him. The rice and natto were easy to get started, but the miso soup would take a little longer and required more concentration. He already had the pickled vegetables and could get a little fish going once the other items were underway. It was an easy, simple rhythm and one he could fall into easily. He'd done it often enough living in the dorms. They were supposed to have taken turns, at Iida's insistence, but more often than not, it ended up falling to more experienced hands such as his, Tsu's, or even Bakugo's (no one had wanted a repeat of what had happened when Kaminari had tried to make breakfast).

"Mgh… Morning…?"

Rikido turned and saw Habuko standing in the kitchen doorway, wearing one of his shirts, holding a hand to her head. His shirt looked comically large on her, hanging down far past her waist.

"Morning," he said, quietly. "I'm, ah, making breakfast." There he went, stating the obvious. "If you want some? It's almost done." He really didn't know what he was supposed to be doing here. "I can make coffee?"

Habuko winced. "That would be nice," she said, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the kitchen as he finished breakfast, dishing up some for both of them, along with coffee. They ate and drank in silence for several long moments. He desperately felt like he should say something, anything, but the words died in his throat each time. From the way Habuko would look at him, then quickly look away, a reptilian blush covering her cheeks, he could tell she must have felt the same.

Finally, it was Habuko who found her courage first. "Rikido," she began, "did we…?"

He shook her head. But this required an actual answer, so he forced himself to speak. "I don't know. I really don't remember. Too much to drink. I know we were all over each other on the cab ride back and when we got back here, but after that, it's just gone."

She took a long drink of her coffee. "I'm sorry. This never would have happened if I hadn't called you. I got so caught up in my own drama, getting drunk like that…"

"No." The word came more quickly than he expected, shot straight from his mouth without thought or direction, only the absolute denial of her statement. "I got drunk too," he said. "That was my choice. We were both irresponsible. Neither of us is blameless for whatever happened. But we were both caught up in our personal issues and it just got out of hand."

There was a quiet moment again, then Habuko began to laugh. He stared at her, eyes wide, until she finally composed herself enough to speak. "We are very bad at this," she said. "I can't even take the blame right."

"Chizu always did say I tried to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders."

"Chizu…" Habuko said softly. "Of all the days… I'm sorry."

"You're apologizing again," he said. "Don't. What's done is done. It happened. But we can move on."

"Can we?" she asked.

"I think we can."

Could they? He wasn't so sure. But she was also a great friend of his, a friend of his friends, his son's godmother. He could ignore whatever had happened (he was pretty certain it hadn't gone much father) for that. Keep the peace, move forward.

Right.

Habuko went to shower and get dressed while he cleaned up the dishes, a million thoughts still running through his mind. He'd spoken the words she'd wanted to hear, but the thought that he'd somehow betrayed his wife, betrayed his vows, still clung sharply. He was pretty sure he'd lost a friendship, because he wasn't sure he could ever be around her without thinking on it again. Rikido was so lost in thought that he didn't notice when Habuko returned to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry," she said again, hands on the island. "I know you keep telling me not to be, but I can't help but feel like I betrayed my friend. I've never had many. I lost one when we lost her. And now I feel like I've lost you."

"I told you…" he began.

"You told me what I wanted to hear!" she snapped, and for a moment, her eyes flashed and he found himself unable to move. Three long seconds passed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I lost myself for a moment. But I know when I'm being patronized, Rikido."

"I, I did tell you what you wanted to hear," he said, moving around the island to face her. "What else was I supposed to say? What we did… here… How am I supposed to feel?!" Everything he'd been holding in came tumbling out now, the last walls crumbling like delicate spun sugar. "I've never done anything like that! Never lost control, never went that far like that!"

"I didn't exactly see you resisting!" she snapped back. "Drunk or not, you were just as into it as I was!"

"She was my wife!"

"She was my friend!"

At that, all the strength left him and he found himself hitting his knees, great tears in his eyes. "She was my everything, Habuko. The love of my life. Am I just supposed to forget that? And yet, for one _stupid_ moment, I _forgot_ about her! I let myself go and I _forgot_ her!"

"She was my friend," she said again. "Here… all I can think is how I betrayed her memory, betrayed and hurt someone I care about…" Tears filled her eyes too, cutting off further words.

She didn't speak for a moment, instead, she bent down next to him and put her arms around him. Somehow, he found his own arms around her, great heaving sobs rocking them both.

There was another moment and he found himself looking into her big yellow eyes. In the air between them hung a world of hurt and pain and loss.

In that moment, he wasn't a widower and single father, caught between wanting to move on and move forward while still being afraid to, no matter what he'd said.

In that moment, she wasn't a divorcee and single mother, battling against the choices she'd made and the people who'd mistreated her.

In that moment, they were just two people who needed each other very much, two broken people seeking something and at least for one moment, finding it.

He leaned in and his lips touched hers. Slowly, gingerly, they both leaned into it, as though they could draw strength from each other.

And perhaps they did.

Habuko spoke first once they had broken. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have… We shouldn't have…"

Rikido took her hands in his. "No, I'm sorry. That was me that got that started…"

"Can we both be sorry?" she asked.

He smiled slightly, finding it a genuine one of relief. "I think so."

Still on the floor with him, she asked, "Can we, should we talk about it? For real this time? I don't want to leave things weird between us."

"I think," he said, "I think we've got to."

"I was afraid of that."

"For what it's worth, the last time I was this afraid, Villains were trying to kill me."

He went on, "But… I think she'd—Chizu'd-be okay with this. Well, maybe not the drunk part. But maybe the part where we both felt something. I mean, I felt something. I don't know if you did."

Habuko nodded. "I did. But Rikido… this… anything… it wouldn't be easy. I've got a lot of baggage."

"Yeah, well, so do I."

As he prepared to leave for a couple weeks later, his phone dinged with yet another text from Mina. He'd been getting them for days now and his usual strategy of ignoring her wasn't working.

**Pink Menace: Sato! What's going on? I have more friends for you to date!**

**Pink Menace: Sato! Stop ignoring me!**

**Pink Menace: You're hiding something and I know it!**

**Pink Menace: I WILL FIND OUT YOUR SECRET SUGARMAN!**

**Pink Menace: I will get Toru to spy on you, Sato! Don't think I won't!**

**Pink Menace: I have people lined up to date a hot widower! Why won't you answer me!**

**Pink Menace: WHAT ARE YOU HIDING!?**

Those could be safely ignored for now. Mina would tire of it eventually. Or so he told himself. But the last thing he needed was her shippy eyes on his new and still forming relationship.

And there was a text from Hanta.

**Hanta**: **Sorry, bro. But you know how Mina gets about shipping. Maybe just give her a little answer? She's off active duty with the pregnancy and her shipping-factor's gone through the roof.**

He'd have to talk to Hanta at least. Maybe he could get him to swear to silence? Probably not, but worth a shot.

And a text from Habuko too.

**Habuko**: **See you tonight? Kayda's out with friends. Nothing major. Just us?**

Rikido had to admit, things had been nice. That moment in his kitchen had been the start, followed by a lot of long talks and soul-searching. Koji and Ibara had been a lot of help there. It was still a little awkward and they hadn't told the kids yet—he told himself it was too early for that—but for the first time, in a long time, he felt like he was really moving forward. And for the first time in just as long, his heart felt a little less heavy and a little less lonely.

He typed out a response.

**Rikido: Be great to see you.**

As he left for work, his steps were light.


End file.
